Retired Marine Major General Hal Vincent, 85, of San Juan Capistrano flew 242 combat missions in Vietnam and went on to become a test pilot. He holds a sculpture of an F-4 Phantom, his favorite of the 165 different aircraft he has flown.JEBB HARRIS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

"Every day is Veterans Day" rings as true as the motto, "Once a Marine, always a Marine."

I happen to talk to retired Marine Maj. Gen. Hal Vincent. He mentions his 85th birthday is coming up and he's planning a sky dive.

Yes, the general's jumping out of a plane. Did I mention he uses a walker?

Still, it's a fitting celebration for a man who flew 242 combat missions in Vietnam, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Bronze star, and risked his life as a test pilot during the heyday of the Right Stuff.

We agree to jump together – me right behind. But the sky dive company can't get its act together. Instead, we get together for a down to earth lunch. I pull out a pen and pad. Vincent asks that I ditch the paper and ink. We're just chatting.

The San Juan Capistrano resident explains he doesn't want a column about him when there are many veterans far more deserving. He finally agrees to talk if the column's only 10 percent about him.

So let's agree that this column isn't about this veteran. Rather it's about all veterans because Vincent – who was 36 years in uniform – embodies the spirit of those who serve.

That includes the never-give-up attitude that helped Vincent survive three crashes.

• • •

Vincent grew up in a place called Otsego, a small town outside of a large town in western Michigan.

I've lived and worked near Otsego and know it to be a community where men disappear into forests to hunt deer. But with a pilot father, Vincent was more drawn to the sky. By age 17, Vincent was determined to fly anything and everything.

As soon as he was old enough, Vincent enlisted in the Navy's aviation program. He was sent to nearby Western Michigan University and then the U.S. Naval Academy. By 1953, he was stationed at El Toro Marine Base and was living his dream.

Flying jets.

He recalls that in those days El Toro Road made its way to the beach by threading through bean fields and orange groves. But Vincent had little time for such excursions. He and his new wife, Ginny, were busy raising two baby boys. (They later added a daughter.) And, of course, there was Vincent's other love, flying.

Understand that Ginny knew what she was getting into when she married the 6-foot-1 Marine. Ginny's father, Marine Walter Bayler, was the last man off Wake Island during World War II. Ginny was a 9-year-old living on base in Hawaii when Pearl Harbor was attacked.

It was during those early years when Vincent nearly died. The first time.

He was flying an F6F Hellcat over the Gulf of Mexico when the engine quit. He'd been taught that if the wind is high, land into the wind; if the waves are big, land along the crest of the waves. But as Vincent plunged toward the ocean, sea and sky blended into the same color.

Retired Marine Major General Hal Vincent, 85, of San Juan Capistrano flew 242 combat missions in Vietnam and went on to become a test pilot. He holds a sculpture of an F-4 Phantom, his favorite of the 165 different aircraft he has flown. JEBB HARRIS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Retired Marine Major General Hal Vincent, 85, of San Juan Capistrano served in WWII, Korea and Vietnam. He flew 242 combat missions in Vietnam and later became a test pilot, ultimately flying 165 different aircraft. In the photo he is in the top plane leading a squadron of F-4 Phantoms over a famous Vietnam Marine outpost known as the Rockpile. JEBB HARRIS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
A photo on the wall of his San Juan Capistrano home shows Hal Vincent taking off in a AV-8A Harrier jet. General Vincent flew both the AV-8A and AV-8B with his squadrons in the 2d Marine Air Wing. JEBB HARRIS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Retired Marine Major General Hal Vincent, 85, flew 242 combat missions in Vietnam and went on to become a test pilot. His wife Ginny, 80, is the daughter of celebrated Marine Brigadier General Walter L. J. Bayler who wrote "Last Man Off Wake Island." At age 9, she survived the Pearl Harbor attack. JEBB HARRIS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Wife Ginny helps adjust the USMC bolo tie of retired Marine Major General Hal Vincent of San Juan Capistrano. JEBB HARRIS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Retired Marine Major General Hal Vincent of San Juan Capistrano points out President John F. Kennedy who he met shortly before Kennedy's assassination in 1963. Vincent is second from left. JEBB HARRIS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Retired Marine Major General Hal Vincent , 85, of San Juan Capistrano served in WWII, Korea and Vietnam. He flew 242 combat missions in Vietnam and later became a test pilot, ultimately flying 165 different aircraft. JEBB HARRIS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
From 1978 to 1980 retired Marine Major General Hal Vincent commanded the 2nd Marine Air Wing at Cherry Point, N.C. The photo shows one of each type of the 460 aircraft he commanded. JEBB HARRIS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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